The woman, who identifies herself as Megan, said she was returning to the home Wednesday morning from a one-hour visit to the gym.

Oceanside police released the recording one day after the San Diego County medical examiner's office ruled the death a suicide. The family plans to donate Seau's brain for research into football-related injuries.

The caller is nearly hysterical and breathing heavily during much of the call as emergency workers guide her through life-saving measures that failed.

"Where is the gun?" the dispatcher asks.

"It's next to him in the bed," she answers.

"What is your boyfriend's name?"

"Junior Seau," she says.

The dispatcher asks where he was shot.

"I can't tell, ma'am. It looks like in the heart," she said.

She told the dispatcher that he did not have a pulse and that his chest was not moving.

"I just came home from the gym, and he's in our spare bedroom, and he shot himself, and it looks like he shot himself in the chest," she says after the dispatcher transferred the call to the fire department.

Nearly five minutes into the call, she goes to the door to allow rescue workers in. She explains again what happened and then begins to sob.

There's been no medical evidence that brain injuries from football may have played a role in his death.

San Diego Chargers chaplain Shawn Mitchell said Friday he didn't know where the brain will be sent.

"The Seau family really has, almost like Junior, a philanthropic approach, where they always desire to help others," Mitchell said in a phone interview. "The purpose is not initially to discover anything about their son and what led to these tragic circumstances, but rather the betterment of other people and athletes down the road through anything that can be learned through the study."

Garrett Webster, the administrator and player liaison for the Brain Injury Research Institute, said his group has requested that the family donate the brain.

Seau's ex-wife, Gina, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he sustained concussions during his 20-year NFL career, during which he also played for Miami and New England.

Mitchell said he never heard Seau complain about dizziness or headaches.

"With Junior, that would be so outside of his nature because he had an amazing threshold for pain," Mitchell said.

Family members and friends have said they weren't aware of any issues that may have led to Seau's suicide. No suicide note was found.

"This is not anything I thought he would ever do," former San Diego Chargers safety Miles McPherson said.